TRPG General Chat

BESW

00:01

doppelgreener

@Sandwich I feel bad for this snake.

Sandwich

Tobacco companies approve of this snake

doppelgreener

@BESW I'm at 8 / 78 / 160. If I get two more silver badges, and nothing else, it'll hit 1:10:20. :D

And now I find some clarifications I can make in an earlier answer.

(.... clarifications which really warrant being made, I think.)

Sandwich

00:21

@Solocshaw Welcome

Ben

00:47

Oh. Phew... I thought I forgot my PHB

It's alright... everyone clam down

Miniman

@Ben Hide inside a clam, you mean?

doppelgreener

Ben

01:08

You heard me :P

BESW

"Clam Down" would be a decent name for a band.

Ben

Perhaps you should writhe that down

Miniman

Today in fun with SE Data Explorer: the rep cap has lost me 4.1k rep total :(

BESW

@Miniman Link to the code so I can parse mine without remembering how much I can't make it work?

Miniman

@BESW 3360

~~I had to edit it slightly, and I'm not sure how to link the new query.~~

Ah, like this.

BESW

01:21

Huh.

DuckTapeAl

475 for me.

BESW

I don't hit the cap very hard, I guess.

(I'm averaging about seven surplus votes per rep cap I hit.)

Miniman

The original version breaks it down by date.

Side note: I love that SE made authentication awesome, it'd be great if it applied to data.SE too.

Ben

[ahem]... write*

Apologies

BESW

I thought you did it on porpoise.

Miniman

01:25

Me too. (I can't think of a pun involving "me too".)

Ben

Completely unintentional. Two times

Pixie

@BESW Vulpixel.

(And a year later, I am still mixing up my link formats.)

Miniman

01:44

Interesting but not surprising: KRyan has the highest rep/day on the site.

Ben

[Light applause]

Miniman

Also: I enjoy poking around in data.SE, but I appreciate that it's not interesting to everyone, so feel free to tell me if these tidbits are tiresome.

BESW

I find it fascinating; I just can't do it myself.

Miniman

@BESW Now that I think about it, there's something slightly worrying about how I enjoy writing SQL, given that my job is 95% writing SQL. Maybe it's the variety of writing SQL for a different data structure.

doppelgreener

@Miniman What do you mean? The open ID sign in process?

Miniman

01:54

@doppelgreener So, this happened recently. I don't know about everyone, but for me it made things miles better. (In particular logging into chat used to be incredibly laborious at home and near-impossible on my phone, now it's seamless and awesome.)

But data.SE still requires me to specifically log in to it every time, which makes me slightly sad.

doppelgreener

@Miniman Oh! So the improved cross-site behaviour and sign in, and that isn't on data explorer yet?

(Now that you mention it, I haven't had any sign-in issues on chat on my phone in a while.)

Pixie

Ah yes, I did notice that. It was clunky before.

doppelgreener

@BESW WHAAAAAAAAT. Is this where you got the Nibiru name from!?

Miniman

@doppelgreener Yep, as far as I can tell data.SE's authentication is still entirely divorced from the rest of the network.

doppelgreener

@Miniman Oh yeah, now I see I have to sign into it too, and it doesn't have the new sign in interface.

Miniman

01:56

@Pixie To log in on my home computer, I used to have to login to rpg.se, open chat, login to stackexchange, open chat, then switch chat to rpg chat. Now I just open chat, it's amazing.

BESW

@doppelgreener Yes, Nibiru is a conspiracy theory name for a rogue planet associated with the Mayan apocalypse.

doppelgreener

@BESW Tell me a bit more about this rogue planet theory?

Miniman

(I have some fairly serious privacy settings which were probably primarily responsible for making things difficult.)

doppelgreener

Nibiru cataclysm

The Nibiru cataclysm is a supposed disastrous encounter between the Earth and a large planetary object (either a collision or a near-miss) which certain groups believe will take place in the early 21st century. Believers in this doomsday event usually refer to this object as Planet X or Nibiru. The idea that a planet-sized object will collide with or pass by Earth in the near future is not supported by any scientific evidence and has been rejected as pseudoscience and an internet hoax by astronomers and planetary scientists. The idea was first put forward in 1995 by Nancy Lieder, founder of the...

turns out there's a wikipedia page for it. :D

Pixie

@Miniman Yeah. It wasn't a big deal for me at home, but if I wanted to hop on chat during a break at work, I had to do that dance every time.

Miniman

02:00

@doppelgreener Ah, apparently it's because SEDE has its own issues.

doppelgreener

Apparently the Nibiru theory involves a pole shift cataclysm too. Those are a problem, because the magnetic poles of our planet have swapped place multiple times during humanity's history and we've pretty much always been fine. Anything relying on a compass might get a bit confused, maybe there'll be some consequences for our power grids, but that's about it.

> This would be followed by the Earth's pole destabilising in a pole shift (a physical pole shift, with the Earth's pole physically moving, rather than a geomagnetic reversal) caused by magnetic attraction between the Earth's core and the magnetism of the passing planet.

Oh. That's a bit worse I guess.

@BESW The photos of V838 Mon are pretty beautiful though.

And fascinating: what we're seeing in them is not an expanding ball of debris around the star. What we're really seeing a wave of light expanding through debris that were there all along and otherwise invisible. As the light gets further out, it's bouncing off the debris and arriving here.

That also means we're not actually seeing the outside of the debris; what we're seeing is the inside, the back of it, behind the star rather than in front of it.

V838 Mon's article talks about it.

Nyoze

02:31

\o

Shalvenay

@doppelgreener -- I suspect that it'll just be "whoops, big change to the magnetic declination today, better get the word out!"

re: a pole swap in the modern age

also -- I decided I'm going to try seeing how a GM-played char works alongside the party for an encounter and then force-level the PCs

(took the Acolyte template, married it to my Orcs-who-use-Half-Orc-stats, and gave her a quarterstaff, a dagger, and a pig problem :P)

doppelgreener

@Shalvenay Make sure you read the good advice we have available on GMPCs.

Shalvenay

yeah

doppelgreener

(^ this being roughly the approach I'm aware of BESW using and that I know works well)

Shalvenay

I've seen GMPCs work rather well by staying to the support roles; the funniest, if you can pull it off, though, is a GMPC "fall guy"

doppelgreener

02:45

How's the GMPC fall guy work?

Shalvenay

someone who's just a bit too eager to run into battle etal and winds up being the party punching bag as a result

(i.e. takes a bunch of licks for the rest of the party and often goes down or winds up in hard times as a result)

doppelgreener

... that's a novel way to act in a supporting role XD

Shalvenay

it's not something that I can do particularly well as a DM though I suspect

doppelgreener

@BESW @trogdor Just noticed something while flitting through ARRPG in search of stunts:

> Tesladyne starts with three aspects. [Snip: they're a Mission Statement, and the volume's two pressures.] At the start of an issue, each of Tesladyne’s aspects starts with one free invocation.

We haven't been starting the issues with these free invocations.

Also, our Title aspects stay around forever and ever and ever:

> Tesladyne gains additional aspects over the course of a campaign. At the end of a volume, erase both pressures and add a title aspect—the title of the volume that just concluded, and reflective of what hap- pened during it.

misterducky

Woah woah woah.

Tesladyne?

Atomic Robo?

doppelgreener

02:56

Which means previous volumes are always available for invoking. That one time we saved that goldfish? Available for invoking via the title of that volume.

@misterducky Yes

misterducky

Are you talking about an Atomic Robo rpg?

Sorry, I just came in, and didn't see much context above.

doppelgreener

@misterducky It's unrelated to the context above. I'm just leaving some messages for two of the other players in my group.

@BESW @trogdor my messages left for you end here.

misterducky

Oh. I see. And now I see that ARRPG must mean Atomic Robo.

Time to look that up

doppelgreener

@misterducky evilhat.com/home/atomic-robo

misterducky

Thanks, DG

Nyoze

03:00

@Shalvenay It works, but then you have the problem that you're effectively just fighting yourself, and that takes the fun out of it for both you and the players when I've seen it happen.

I have had some success with a GMPC who is effectively just a heal bot, for religious/other reasons won't attack or be directly involved in conflict. Makes things easier for you as well :)

Shalvenay

@Nyoze -- that's the approach I'm more or less taking with this GMPC

doppelgreener

@misterducky It's based on Fate Core (available in PDF for free, also there's an SRD)

misterducky

Oh, neat.

doppelgreener

!!!!!

@BESW I have achieved this beautiful ratio. ;u;

Magician

Nice! Now get 640 more bronze badges without getting any of the other ones.

At which point you could just retire forever.

doppelgreener

03:04

(ง ͠° ͟ل͜ ͡°)ง i am not sure this is a good challenge in practice but it sounds great in theory

misterducky

That sounds like loser talk, DG. Pretty sure you're a winner.

doppelgreener

@misterducky XD Thank you for the reassurance.

Nyoze

Well, think about it.

doppelgreener

I like my gold and metal shinies though.

Nyoze

Are there any bronze badges that you can earn multiple times that won't increase to silver/gold?

misterducky

03:08

It's kinda lame when your deity's favored weapon is on the Simple Weapon list...

HadesHerald

maybe you should check out Ul'Ul

d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/cleric/…

You get bladed scarf proficiency

misterducky

This would be for PFS.

So, sadly, no.

HadesHerald

:'(

misterducky

Plus, I'm going with this deity for flavor.

Nyoze

:'(

misterducky

03:10

Inquisitor of Mammon.

HadesHerald

Greed?

misterducky

Basically a tax collector.

Nyoze

Well... Are you just wanting proficiency with a different weapon?

misterducky

Yeah.

HadesHerald

Lol

Nyoze

03:10

@misterducky What race are you going for?

misterducky

Tiefling. I have a character I played once before the switch.

With one XP

Also, I don't mind using the shortspear, it just seems a waste to get that proficiency when I already have it.

I'm going to be using the Sanctified Slayer and Sin Eater archetypes.

Nyoze

Any traits?

HadesHerald

I know absolutely nothing about rpgs but it would be funny if you had some manner of super-armor just for FMA

misterducky

I picked the Soul Seer Alternate Racial Trait.

But nothing from the trait traits yet

Fourth level, I'll get a sneak attack

And I think I might focus on feinting

doppelgreener

@Nyoze I just have to make 640 mediocre answers and somehow gain mind control over the voters so they never push any of them to 25.

HadesHerald

03:14

lol

Pixie

You will be the true champion of mediocrity.

HadesHerald

I feel like someone would notice eventually and just try to sabotage you

Nyoze

@HadesHerald Hasn't happened to me yet :)

doppelgreener

My name will echo far and wide, quietly, from murmurs, when people quietly acknowledge "oh it's that guy" and then return to whatever they were doing.

HadesHerald

And now we just went to meta-answering

Magician

03:17

Doppelgreener: he's ok, I guess.

doppelgreener

@Magician thx mag

Nyoze

@misterducky Check out this Trait

misterducky

I think it's been ruled that Masterwork Weapon doesn't stay between encounters.

At least in PFS.

Nyoze

Heirloom weapon doesn't give you a weapon, you'll need to pay for it yourself. It just gives you a free proficiency, along with +1 on AoO, and +2 on a certain combat maneuver with the selected weapon.

misterducky

Yeah, unfortunately, it has to be non-masterwork.

doppelgreener

03:20

@Nyoze no, it just gives you one of those (your choice).

misterducky

And yeah, DG is right, they eratta'd it, you only get one

BESW

Our society is prepared for a zombie apocalypse. Not werewolves. Everything is going according to the werewolves' plan. WAKE UP SHEEPLE

Tweeted by Nash076 on August 26, 2015 at 3:08 AM

6

Nyoze

Ah, shame.

misterducky

And it's only with the specific weapon you buy when you take the trait.

Nyoze

And only simple or martial, not exotic... Damn.

user15026

03:22

@BESW This cracked me up.

doppelgreener

@AshleyNunn But does it WISEN YOU UP??????????????

BESW

Like wolves among sheeple.

Nyoze

Back to trawling through traits. I remember seeing one that gives you a free racial weapon prof based on a race of your choosing, but can't remember what it was.

Magician

Treasure Chests - Objectivity #33

►

^Opening actual old chests. Seen on Reddit, quite cool.

misterducky

I wonder if the Moonlight Stalker feat chain is worth exploring

Nyoze

03:32

Ah, found it. Adoptive Parentage human alternate racial trait, which replaces the bonus feat you could use for it anyway, typical.

misterducky

Plus, racial trait. Which isn't the same thing as a race trait, and is dumb.

Nyoze

Yeah, exactly.

I knew I saw it somewhere, but damned if I could remember where. Sorry :\

misterducky

Don't be, dude.

Just talking builds out is always nice.

I think I'm pretty set on doing the feint stuff.

Pixie

Wow. Take the demon dancer skald archetype and become a mobile metal music video.

Nyoze

@Pixie Just flavour the Fiendish Maw into Metal Headbanging for a bludgeoning headbutt attack.

Pixie

03:38

Hah!

misterducky

So, Mammon's holy symbol is a coin stamped with his head.

So I think when I get enough gold, I'm going to get a set of Kikko armor, and get the Reliquary special property, and flavor it as all of the plates are coins with his head on them.

HadesHerald

AVOID ROGUES!

misterducky

Haha

HadesHerald

:P

Are proteans playable?

Nyoze

@misterducky The Moonlight Stalker Feint definitely looks helpful as a swift action feint, which you can then make a full attack after... I personal think two-weapon feinting or just straight improved feinting is a better choice with less of a feat tax.

misterducky

03:41

Yeah, I think my level 1 feat will have to be Combat Expertise.

HadesHerald

@misterducky you could also make scale-mail of mammon coins

misterducky

The feinting stuff doesn't really have to come online until 4th, which is when I get my first sneak attack die.

I would, but Kikko armor is technically better. Higher max dex, lower Armor Check penalty

Hmmm.

The Gang Up feat might be nice as well.

HadesHerald

ok

Again I know null about RPGS

misterducky

It's cool

I think regardless of whether I go Midnight Stalker of just Improved Feint, combat expertise will be an important first level feat.

Nyoze

@misterducky Yeah... Combat Expertise is unfortunately a requirement of lots of different builds, which sucks your need for 13 int :\

misterducky

03:46

Currently I've got 10, 12, 12, 13, 18, and 8

S, D, Co, I, W, Ch

Nyoze

Gang Up is awesome if you're surrounding medium enemies, or fighting huge enemies. I'd take a look at your party makeup though, and make sure you've got 2 other melee's to be there with you.

misterducky

Well, like I said, it'll be PFS, so who knows.

Nyoze

Yeah, that's just it.

HadesHerald

PFS... is that pathfinders?

Nyoze

Pathfinder Society, organised play groups for Pathfinder.

misterducky

03:49

Pathfinder Society

Ninja'd

Nyoze

:P

HadesHerald

ok thanks

where do you guys live?

misterducky

Chicago

Nyoze

Australia :(

HadesHerald

G'day mate, I'm from Fort Collins, Colorado

Nyoze

03:54

Yeah... No :P

Shalvenay

home of radio station WWV

misterducky

What part of Australia? I visited Melbourne a couple years ago.

Actually it'll be like, three years in a couple weeks.

HadesHerald

@Shalvenay is that where you live or a comment about where I live?

Shalvenay

@HadesHerald a comment about where you live

HadesHerald

Ah, ok

Not many people I run across (outside of FC) know that fact

Nyoze

03:56

@Shal lives in a place where dragons and airplanes are the same thing :P

HadesHerald

So good for you

I have no idea what stone age tribe he found

Nyoze

@misterducky Tasmania, though I'm heading to Melbourne next week. I'm excited :)

Shalvenay

@Nyoze -- wings are wings and lift is lift

HadesHerald

are Tas Devils a problem in tasmania?

Shalvenay

@HadesHerald -- they are having problems in Tasmania, sadly

(the Tasmanian Devils that is -- some sort of nasty disease)

Nyoze

03:57

Sure, the problem being they're all dying and actually endangered. :(

HadesHerald

Yeah the stupid face cancer stuff right?

Nyoze

Yeah, that's the one.

HadesHerald

Nasty business

Nyoze

Haven't heard much about it for a few years, so hopefully the quarantine program has been helping.

HadesHerald

According to my dad (who was in tasmania about 8 months ago) it was helping, but the problem wasn't gone

So where does shal actually live?

Cause I confused

Shalvenay

04:01

@HadesHerald -- somewhere in US CST

HadesHerald

good enough for me

Shalvenay

(and I subscribe to the theory that all winged flying things operate on the same aerodynamics -- the problem for dragons isn't that they can't generate enough lift to fly, it's that they can't generate enough thrust to fly)

HadesHerald

you do world building SE too?

Shalvenay

ya

you might have seen a few of my questions

misterducky

I'd argue that the mechanics how a dragon would fly and a plane would fly are fundamentally different

Shalvenay

04:02

(or answers for that matter)

@misterducky -- take an Adult Red, have him spread his wings out full length, and launch him off a 20,000' mountaintop. push an equivalent airplane off the same mountaintop. see who glides further? :D

HadesHerald

You're the one that proposed the flipping jet-powered dragons (which is terrifying btw) aren't you?

Shalvenay

@HadesHerald -- no, actually

misterducky

That is gliding, not flight.

Shalvenay

@misterducky -- unpowered flight (gliding) is the first key step to full-fledged flight.

HadesHerald

The mechanics of how they remain in the air after losing propulsion is similar

Shalvenay

04:04

@HadesHerald -- my point exactly

misterducky

But the way they get off the ground is very different.

Shalvenay

@misterducky -- yes, their thrust sources are different

HadesHerald

Which is why the fin jet-powered dragons are terrifying

Shalvenay

it's kind of funny, actually -- an Adult Red can barely keep up with a Cessna 172 in a dive

HadesHerald

The dragons share a propulsion/thrust source with jet fighters (granted overall speed: slower. Overall maneuvering: 0.0)

Magician

04:07

misterducky

@MAgi

Whoops!

HadesHerald

Now the Nazis have dragons... F... what new large reptilian creature will they acquire next?

misterducky

@Magician, watched that treasure chest video. Kinda neat.

Shalvenay

@HadesHerald -- haha. dragons also have the Swallow's problem -- hitting Mach 1 is going to mess them up terribly

HadesHerald

Yeah!!! :P

Shalvenay

04:09

@HadesHerald I wouldn't be too worried, nothing some 20mm shells won't dispatch handily

anything in the metal-monoplane era can out-dogfight a dragon handily

just keep two-circle flow in mind and use your energy to your advantage

Pixie

How do you know bullets even work on dragons? All of this is only for a specific value of dragon. :v

Shalvenay

@Pixie -- there are other things you can do besides bullets to mess up an opponent in a dogfight

a modern jetliner could beat one with a simple unloaded extension -- which'd be hilarious. Mach 1, Dragon 0

Pixie

"Nothing some 20mm shells won't dispatch handily" though. :P Point is, as we've been over before, this is destined to come out only as you envision it because dragons aren't real. xD

user61230

[pops in] potential mood-setting music for session's start [pops out]

Shalvenay

:P

on a different note -- my next DM session's going to be interesting

Nyoze

04:13

I still think a dragon would win, because they actually have more midair maneuverability then your average plane would, but...

Shalvenay

half-orc-ess with a pig problem

Nyoze

We've been over this before lol.

Shalvenay

@Nyoze -- maybe in terms of turn radius, but yes.

doppelgreener

Yes, please let's not resume dragon vs aeroplane.

Shalvenay

I have "half-orc-ess vs feral sow" on deck as a starting point -- maybe add another pig in if needed :P

Nyoze

04:15

@misterducky Actually... Tieflings have a case for being naturally proficient with all Martial weapons. Check Here

Shalvenay

(as in NPC half-orc-ess using the Acolyte block from the back of the MM and with a quarterstaff for a weapon, and one angry feral sow)

also better dragon thing -- how do you park 20 dragons in a space that should only fit 10? :P

doppelgreener

@Shalvenay If you talk to them about "parking" them, you probably won't be around long enough to "park" any.

misterducky

I see where you're coming from with it, but I don't think it counts.

Shalvenay

:P

Miniman

@misterducky It was pretty widely accepted in 3.5, at least.

Pixie

04:19

You quickly rustle up some VIP parking spaces so they don't eat you for trying to shove them into inadequate accommodations.

doppelgreener

You give them a compelling amount of treasure that they'll accept not having two wingspans' worth of room around them, and then make sure they're out of there before they start arguing.

Miniman

Don't do anything - they'll make space.

doppelgreener

> Mal (to Simon): You ever see twenty dragons fight when they got no room to fly out? It's kinda like a meat grinder.

Miniman

06:13

Nice feeling: Giving the usual "Welcome to the site, please take the tour" comment...and then seeing them actually do it.

7

doppelgreener

@Miniman that felt nice just to read about.

BESW

06:40

@doppelgreener I hadn't realised you didn't know how much I was directly pulling on extremist 2012 conspiracy theories.

Granted, the Nibiru Cataclysm is one of the weirder ones.

Miniman

@Shalvenay I didn't see this earlier - I've done exactly this. The problem is, (no false modesty) I'm better at D&D than my players were at the time, and my character outshined everyone else, despite being theoretically just a punching bag.

Fortunately it wasn't a serious campaign, just a few of us trying stuff out.

Tritium21

metalsucks.net/2015/08/21/… And this is why i have a tag blocked...

Warning: strong language

doppelgreener

07:01

@BESW I thought "2012 apocalypse" was about the extent of it, with lots of room to come up with fun things around that. Crystal skulls being one of those fun things for no particular reason.

@Tritium21 What's this thing and what is it about? (Since you're warning us about strong language)

Tritium21

Its about the 'myfarog' role playing game, released by a convicted murderer

and arsonist

doppelgreener

what. O_O

Tritium21

It makes FATAL look like a well balanced feminist masterpiece

Miniman

@Tritium21 So why does this mean you have a tag blocked? There aren't any myfarog questions on the site.

doppelgreener

[checks tag list] appears we at least don't have one by that name

Miniman

07:04

@doppelgreener HAH.

Tritium21

The game came out...a few days ago? I am preemptively blocking it

Miniman

(Fist bumps self for ninja-ing doppel)

@Tritium21 Yeah, but what if we get the question: "What is wrong with myfarog RPG?"

Tritium21

That person should be banned, because they are trolling

Besides, we dont answer those kinds of questions anyways, i dont think

"Whats wrong with D&D5?" answers could range from "Nothing." and be right and "Everything" and be right

I should get to bed

Miniman

@Tritium21 Ttfn

doppelgreener

@Miniman [quietly disposes of Miniman and takes his place]

Miniman

07:14

@doppelgreener [urrrgh]

doppelgreener

@Tritium21 Hm. We've never had a question about Fatal, and the only one about Hybrid is where to find it because someone is curious about playing it (which is an impossible endeavour).

Nyoze

07:33

@doppelgreener Reading Hybrid is an impossible endeavor :(

Miniman

Does anyone know what the occasional "edited by Community" means?

Never mind, MSE has the answer as always.

SPArchaeologist

Morning

Miniman

@SPArchaeologist Hi!

@SPArchaeologist Incidentally, you're something of a Sharepoint guru, right?

Nyoze

@Miniman Something along the lines of edited by someone who has a guest account I think?

Miniman

@Nyoze Nah, it's a free bump for questions which haven't ever gotten much love: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/43015/…

doppelgreener

07:38

@Miniman It means it was edited by our lizard underlords (like overlords but beneath the earth) and meta.SE is wrong as always like the sheeple they are.

Nyoze

Yeah, suggested Edits by anonymous users.

@Miniman Check Here

doppelgreener

There's several causes.

If there's an actual "edited by Community" on the post, it's an anonymous edit that our suggested edit queue agreed to.

Miniman

@Nyoze Ah, the one I was looking at didn't actually edit the question at all.

Nyoze

Huh, that's odd...

Miniman

@doppelgreener I'm choosing to read this as: "Here's a cool new word for you to steal and use - Underlords!"

Nyoze

07:40

Yeah, free bump for quiet questions and yeah.

doppelgreener

@Miniman In the case of free bumps, it will appear in the question list as "modified by Community" but there will not be an actual edit nor recent activity to be found in the question.

Nyoze

See.... I always think of Underlords as Cats. They like you to think you're in control, but you really have no choice in the matter.

doppelgreener

@Miniman That's valid.

(I think that makes us their overlings?)

(or just "filthy ape peasants")

Nyoze

@doppelgreener Overlings works, I think.

Miniman

@doppelgreener Definitely borrowing this - I might pull a reverse Laputa some day.

(I love flying islands with an unreasonable passion, no idea why.)

Anyway, I'm heading off.

Cyall!

Nyoze

07:47

@Miniman Cya! o/

SPArchaeologist

@Miniman Well, to quote the old saying (usually believed from Socrates) at least "I know what I don't know". You needed something specific? I can try to give some help.

doppelgreener

08:01

@Miniman Sounds like fun! I have a dare: underground, upside down, gravity reversed. There's a titanic magma flow beneath... um... overhead that is the main light source.

eimyr

Morning!

doppelgreener

@eimyr morning~

eimyr

nyoro~n

BESW

08:35

@doppelgreener Yup. But I needed something to hang the original conceit on. I figured part of the fun would be stringing together incoherent and unrelated apocalypse/ancient alien memes to make our own mythology.

(If you recall, the object is called "Nibiru" because it was first observed by a conspiracy nut who made a big enough Internet Stink when astronomers tried to change it to something more rational that the name is now embedded in the public consciousness.)

SPArchaeologist

@Miniman - you needed help for something related to SharePoint?

eimyr

@BESW @doppelgreener By God, are you trying to play Scientology RPG?

BESW

@eimyr Our setting is a modern world where Weird Stuff (magical and mad sciencey) lurks barely hidden in the shadows, and only the average guy on the street is ignorant of it. We're playing in 2012, with the accompanying Mayan Apocalypse conspiracy paranoia reinforced by a mysterious moon-sized black object hurtling toward the Sun and causing massive solar flares as it goes.

eimyr

@BESW interesting, what happens then? What do the players do?

BESW

For example, we've had run-ins with a cult that's backing up to pre-microchip technology to survive the polar shift.

SPArchaeologist

08:48

@eimyr Niiiiiceeeeeeeeeeeeeee

BESW

@eimyr We're members of a field team for Amaterasu, an ancient Japanese society (currently masquerading as an international office supplies company) dedicated to protecting the innocent from supernatural menaces: "Using Weird Stuff so it doesn't us you!"

eimyr

@BESW I'm thinking that playing something like this must be really, really great.

A bit like my old Mage the Ascension plots, but with less magick and more stuff

BESW

At the moment we're dealing with a series of time/space portals that are opening up across the world because of electromagnetic fluxes from the Nibiru Object hurtling toward the Sun and causing solar flares.

One of our PCs is stuck in the pre-Cambrian period (his player is alternately GMing and going through a gamut of other short-use PCs).

When the launch window opens, we'll take off for the Nibiru Object in our near-sun spaceship (newly built, shielded with minerals from a demon dimension, powered by a nuclear goldfish, and controlled by the disembodied brain of Charles Babbage) and see if we can stop it.

@eimyr It's amazing. Partly because it's Fate, and everybody feels free to GM if they have session ideas, so I'm as surprised as everyone else by a lot of what happens.

eimyr

@BESW great! It really sounds very interesting.

BESW

Main PCs include two plant people (one's more like a talkative Groot, the other's more like a mad scientist version of the Swamp Thing), a retired FBI agent with latent psychic powers, someone with telekinesis and a laser sword who is totally not a Jedi, and a space cop with rocket boots and a time gun.

Oh, and a totally ordinary normal human IT specialist.

eimyr

08:58

@BESW How do you deal with players who propose ideas that depart from the plot consensus?

You know, in a way that completely changes the "feel" of the game?

BESW

Our recurring enemy is the Black Raven cult, a massively splintered set of semi-independent cult cells with a general "mashing technology and magic together to prepare for the apocalypse" theme. One branch of it is run by someone from the FBI agent's misspent youth.

@eimyr If someone in the group thinks it's going too far, they speak up and we have a chat to work it out.

trogdor

was he specifically FBI?

BESW

@trogdor I think so? Ish?

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